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arXiv · 0803.4058

Crime and punishment in scientific research

Mathieu Bouville
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Abstract

Typical arguments against scientific misconduct generally fail to support current policies on research fraud: they may not prove wrong what is usually considered research misconduct and they tend to make wrong things that are not normally seen as scientific fraud, in particular honest errors. I also point out that sanctions are not consistent with the reasons why scientific fraud is supposed to be wrong either. Moreover honestly seeking truth should not be contrived as a moral rule -- it is instead a necessary condition for work to qualify as scientific. Keywords: cheating; ethics; fabrication; falsification; integrity; plagiarism; research fraud; scientific misconduct.

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Mathieu Bouville. 2008-09-17. Crime and punishment in scientific research. https://arxiv.org/abs/0803.4058

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